Finishing & Screen Printing
NWN MEDIA SEEKS NEW BUSINESS WITH UKS FIRST FERAG EASYSERT
Tuesday 14. July 2009 - The UKs first Ferag EasySert system, which was launched to great acclaim at last years IFRA exhibition, has been ordered by NWN Media for its Deeside site. The new equipment will be installed later in the summer and will be used to handle a wide range of NWN Media newspapers and also contract work produced at the site on a 128-page full colour KBA Commander press.
“The KBA Commander was commissioned two years ago along with a range of Ferag equipment, including four MultiStack stackers, two UTR conveying lines and a full mailroom publishing line,” says operations director Huw Jones. “We didnt have much requirement for inserting at the time, although demand did increase and we subsequently purchased a secondhand inserter from another newspaper group.
“However, having examined the potential of the new Ferag EasySert system we believe that it will provide us with the opportunity to win new business on the strength of being able to offer comprehensive high speed inserting facilities. EasySert will be up to three times faster than our existing equipment and provide much greater reliability, as well as having the ability to insert a huge range of items such as CDs, DVDs, leaflets down to A6 etc.”
EasySert includes JetFeeder hoppers (there can be up to 40 hopper stations in one line) and the industry-leading UTR conveyor system, which eliminates potential problems caused during copy transfer by using the same set of grippers with individual copies throughout the entire process. The maximum speed of inserting is 25,000 copies an hour and the finished product can be
up to 400-pages tabloid. The main product format range is from 300 x 210 mm to 310 x 450 mm and the preprint format from 90 x 90 mm to 310 x 450 mm.
WRH Marketing UK will integrate a new RollStream unit along with the EasySert system into NWN Medias existing Ferag UTR line. Newspapers coming off the KBA Commander will be stacked via the MTS system and manually palletized, then later fed via JetFeeders and RollStream into the EasySert system, which will combine inserts with the main jacket before delivering the completed products to the conveying line.
“We will be able to run the press at maximum production speed,” says Huw Jones. “As the conveyor line from EasySert takes the completed product to our existing MTS stacker we can make full use of our existing publishing line, which consists of labeling, stacking, polywrapping, underwrapping and cross strap facilities plus fully programmed production control.
“EasySert is extremely compact and has fitted into the limited space we had in the mailroom. In addition, many of the components are similar to those incorporated in our other Ferag equipment, which means we can hold lower levels of spares. The MultiStack units at the end of the line produce bundles at up to 40 a minute and the units compensating stacker ensures high production stability through to the finished bundle, ready for despatch.
“We have a great trust and confidence in WRH Marketing UK and the company has been extremely professional throughout all of this recent investment. EasySert represents a highly flexible and simple to use technology for the contract printing market, with variable format adjustments carried out in seconds. With the current economic climate in mind, it was more important than ever to select the right machine that would provide the best performance for the best price without compromising on quality.”
NWN Media Ltd is one of the largest, privately owned newspaper groups in the UK and the last remaining Welsh family-owned newspaper printing business in Wales. The company moved into new £16m premises in Flintshire, North Wales, in July 2007.
NWN Media Ltd publishes 12 of its own titles, which are a mixture of daily, weekly and monthly, paid for and free publications. These include the County Times, the Advertizer and the Evening Leader, which goes to around a million readers each week. A variety of contract work is also handled on the KBA Commander, which has the capacity to 128 pages of full colour at speeds of up to 85,000 copies per hour.